Fans of New York Times best-selling author Shea Serrano might want to look to their televisions for his next big project. In an announcement posted to Twitter Friday, Serrano stated he was “tired of waiting for there to be more Mexicans on TV” and revealed he was working on a family comedy for ABC alongside Good Place producer Mike Schur. The untitled single-camera show will be based on Serrano’s life and family of “five uncles who all have different perspectives on manhood,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Serrano’s rags to riches story has become a source of positivity and inspiration on Twitter. The Houston native started out as a schoolteacher working two jobs to make ends meet. He eventually wrote and published the 2015 book The Rap Yearbook which rocketed up the New York Times Best Seller list with the help of his FOH Army (stands for Fuck Outta Here) – a 161,000 and counting band of digital followers. When he’s not writing books – and, now, crafting television shows – Serrano is doing good works on Twitter. He recently raised over $134,000 for Hurricane Harvey relief, and also put on a massive event to give back-to-school students free haircuts. His most recent book Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated already made several best seller lists only two weeks after its release.
This deal comes hot on the heels of Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez’s own development deal with the CW to craft more diverse shows. For Serrano’s project, ABC has inked a put pilot deal – meaning they’ve committed to producing a pilot episode and if it doesn’t make it to air would result in the network owing money to the producers. This type of arrangement is not guaranteed to be picked up but is considered very likely to get a series order. Keep your fingers crossed that Serrano gets a green light for a full season.